Taxpayers will pay to defend Miami woman accused of murdering autistic son, judge rules

Taxpayers will help foot the bill to defend Patricia Ripley, the West Kendall mother who is facing the death penalty on accusations she drowned her 9-year-old autistic son in a canal and falsely blamed two Black men for his kidnapping.

A Miami-Dade judge, in an order released Thursday, ruled that Ripley is “indigent” for certain costs despite objections from prosecutors who pointed out that her family owns a pricey home in West Kendall and land in the Dominican Republic. Circuit Judge Daryl Trawick ruled that taxpayers will pay the costs for depositions and private investigators, as well as “mitigation” experts who specialize in trying to keep defendants off Florida’s Death Row.

“A case where a mother is accused of murdering her own mentally handicapped child presents complex issues,” Trawick wrote in a seven-page order.

While it’s too early to know how much Florida will wind up paying, other death-penalty cases have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees for experts, investigators and other expenses — making Miami-Dade the most expensive county statewide for taxpayers for capital litigation.

For now, Ripley and her relatives will still have to pay the $300,000 being charged by their private defense lawyers. If the judge finds her “indigent” for the lawyers’ bills, under state law, she would be appointed representation from the Miami-Dade Public Defender’s Office.

Ripley, 46, is charged in the May 21, 2020, killing of Alejandro Ripley, who suffered from severe autism and could not speak. She is charged with first-degree murder and a host of other felonies. She remains jailed while awaiting trial.

Prosecutors said she initially called police to report two Black men took the boy after running her off the road near a West Kendall Home Depot. State authorities issued an Amber Alert, but detectives were immediately suspicious of her shifting stories.

The next day, the boy’s body was found in a canal near the Miccosukee Golf & Country Club, at Southwest 138th Court and 62nd Street, about four miles from where the alleged abduction took place.

Miami-Dade homicide detectives immediately learned that Ripley, earlier in the evening, had been seen with the boy at another area along a canal. Video footage taken from a nearby condo complex showed her pushing the boy into the water — but he was rescued by a bystander.

About an hour later, according to police, Ripley pushed the child into the water and he drowned.

Ultimately, after she was confronted by detectives, Ripley admitted she’d made up the kidnapping story and confessed to leading the boy to the canal where he died, according to an arrest report. She allegedly told police “he’s going to be in a better place.”

Prosecutors and defense attorneys have been battling for months over whether taxpayers should help pay for her defense.

Ripley is represented by private defense lawyers Susy Ribero-Ayala and Sam Rabin, who have said they are charging the family at least $300,000. In court filings, they said only $30,000 has been paid so far through family and friends.

The defense team initially said that her stake in the land in the Dominican Republic was worth more than $285,600, after a private appraisal. But later, the defense claimed, the government appraised the land at only a fraction of that cost — and her stake went down to less than $2,000.

Ripley’s lawyers also said that her husband, Aldo Ripley, has fallen behind on his mortgage payments for the home valued at more than $400,000.

The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office objected, pointing out that Ripley’s husband earns $144,000 and the two still own two BMWs, after having sold their third car — a 2007 Mercedes-Benz.

This story was originally published April 29, 2021 at 1:17 PM.